Honestly. I’ve looked at that scene a hundred times before and I never made the connection! I mean… duh. I’m sure I look like a total idiot admitting that, but there you go. I suppose it’s a different thing to date a distant cousin of your enemy versus his daughter, huh?

The journal entry was: Think of a time when you just did not get along with another person and write about it.

This journal entry was meant to get everyone thinking about the conflict in Romeo and Juliet and I think it worked! If you’re a high school English teacher and you’re not using writer’s notebooks… you should. Although it’s a LOT of reading and grading on the teacher’s part, getting kids to write is one of the more important things you can have students doing.

Sometimes I’m very tempted to use all of my students’ writer’s notebooks for comics. There’s some really clever, brilliant stuff I’d love to tackle. It’s something I’d like to consider for next school year, perhaps.

Ok, a couple of things about this one! First of all, I almost NEVER draw likenesses into my comics BUT… I was sitting for the English department at the 8th Grade Information Night and the Science dudes were CRACKING me up. I couldn’t resist drawing Mr. Walker and Mr. Cole.

Secondly, I know a lot of people have an interest in how the sausage is made (so to speak) so here’s the tiny little sketch I did which birthed today’s comic.

Today we’ll be looking at Ultraforce Ghoul Ultra Figure, a toy created by Galoob Toys based on the animated series of the same name. This toy came out in 1995.

Ultraforce was the premiere superhero team from the Ultraverse, a comic publishing initiative from Malibu Comics in the 1990’s. One of many upstart shared superhero universes, I was a fan of these comics when they were originally published. They offered new readers a “ground floor” approach to a new bunch of characters and I was especially taken with Prime, the Ultraverse’s modernistic riff on Captain Marvel.

Malibu pushed their characters quite hard into other media and had a decent amount of success for a new comic company. The Ultraverse characters made their way into syndicated television (Night Man), computer games and CD-ROMs (remember those?), and a brief run at a Saturday morning cartoon series, on which this toy was based, I’m guessing.

THESE ARE FANTASTIC. No fooling. I’m already a bit of a connoisseur of the good Cap’n but I was genuinely impressed with his latest foray into diabetes inducing breakfast treats. Ellen picked up a box on Manager’s Special and I immediately drove back to the store and bought two more closeout boxes. THAT’S THE KIND OF GUY I AM.

Luckily, Quaker Oats isn’t looking to bring the line to a close. These were just boxes of cereal that got dinged up during transport. BUY THEM NOW OR LOSE THEM FOREVER.

—————

After reading a couple of reviews and profiles online, I picked up Petra Goes to the Movies, the cover album from singer Petra Haden. Haden’s best known for her a cappella renditions of The Who Sell Out and other pop songs. Her version of Journey’sDon’t Stop Believin’ was pretty blatantly ripped off by the producers of Glee for their TV show’s soundtrack.

On Petra Goes to the Movies, Haden tackles movie scores; a daunting challenge for any vocalist. By and large, it’s a success. Haden made some smart choices, eschewing some of more obviously bombastic cinematic music for some understated tunes. Her versions of God’s Lonely Man from Taxi Driver and Bernard Hermann’s theme to Psycho are terrific. She doesn’t completely forget about the spectacle though, with two tracks taken from John Williams’ score for 1978’s Superman: The Movie.

I would say the biggest problem with Petra Goes to the Movies is that the gimmick plays itself out after a few tracks. There’s some impressive vocal work on here and a fun listen… but the work is essentially a novelty and once that’s run its’ course, you may find you’re not as enchanted as you initially were.

At any rate, I highly recommend those four tracks I mentioned.

———————

I also wanted to take a moment to mention a podcast I’ve listened to quite a bit over the last six years. As a regular reader of comic books, I’ve often enjoyed the weekly Pick of the Week Podcast from iFanboy. One of the great joys of the world of podcasting is the way with which hobbies and their intricacies can be focused on with laser like precision. For me, iFanboy serves that purpose. It’s a great way to stay in touch with the comic market especially during times when I’ve lost enthusiasm for certain areas/genres being serviced by that market.

Ron Richards, one of the original three hosts of the Pick of the Week Podcast, airs his last episode this coming week, moving onto a job as Director of Business Development at Image Comics. I’ll definitely miss Richards’ contributions to my Monday afternoon/Tuesday morning commute and wish the guy well in his future endeavors.

Teenagers curse… and teachers have to deal with it. I’m not endorsing the practice but I am saying, if it’s happening BEFORE class starts, you know, a guy has to pick his battles. I guess I make a distinction between cussing like this, and the times when someone says something hurtful TO someone… or when it’s cussing IN the school building, rather than outside, before the day officially begins.

If anyone’s interested in hearing me go more in depth on this subject let me know. I have lots of thoughts.